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Sister and Brothers Dress Properly - Page 5

Last night we had our Stake Youth Standard Night. The Stake President spoke non stop for just over 1 hour. He was very direct, left nothing to the imagination. He dealt with many issues but i will limit my remarks to his councel on dress since this is the topic.

He said if he was the Devil, he would approach his job much as a heavy weight boxer does. The champion doesn't come out and throw a knock out punch to the challenger right off the bat. It won't work. Similarly, the Devil doesn't come right out and get our good upstanding youth to commit serious sin, he works on them first. He jabs a little here and there, gets them to accept some seamingly harmless things into their lives and carefully leads them down the path to transgression.

He said if he was the Devil, he would convince us to be casual. Casual about our relationships, work, church and especially our dress. He asked, Whatever happened to Sunday best? The middrift that is so popular among young women today is a passing fad. Said it reminds him of bread dough. We need to reject such fads and live a higher law.

He recently went to Peru to pick up his misionary son. Peru is a very poor country but the people there were dressed better than the people in our Stake. Our Stake happens to be in very wealthy part of town, a good majority of the members here have way more than they can ever spend.

He commented on the fact that some members show up for their temple reccomend interviews in shorts or jeans. This is showing a disrespect for the temple even though it is not at the temple where the interview is conducted.

He said I've seen many of you at wedding receptions in casual clothes, more like you're going to the Beach. We need to dress for the occasion.

I kind of cringed because i am guilty of being a casual dresser. I blame it on the hot climate here in Arizona but maybe I should break down and go buy a suit. I haven't bought one since I outgrew my last one. Been waiting to lose weight to fit back in to it. May never happen.

Properly Dress Brothers Sister

Gaucho, I'm so glad to hear that your Stake President talked about such important issues. I wish the leaders here can talk boldly about these things too. They are urgently needed. Right now, I cannot believe there are big sisters in the Church who are endowed and dress so bad that sometimes I feel to approach them and tell them that their garments are showing or that what they are wearing is way too bad but I cannot, no matter how I may say it, they will be offended. I know you may think I'm exaggerating....but the women here in Trinidad generally dress with VERY immodest clothing...I mean...REALLY BAD! and I feel bad to see that the same kind of behavior is also within the Church.

Sister and Brothers Dress Properly Studies Doctrine Mormon

It isn't necessary to show up to all of our meetings as if you just stepped out of the tailor's. In fact, there are a number of warnings in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon about fine apparel, jewelry, etc. What is important is that we dress simply, modestly, and in a way that shows respect to the covenants that we have made. In 2 Nephi 25, we read "...for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."

The emphasis here is on the all. We must be willing to give our all to building the Kingdom, and we must be willing to give up all of our sins, pride, and things of the world that we desire. When we go after the latest fashions, when we are immodest, when we are revealing, we do not keep our covenants and we do not invite the Spirit.

I am bewildered by many, having been through the Temple, insist on wearing shorts or compromise to wear fashionable things. Don't take the chance of revealing sacred things. It is not necessary to go after the world. Remember that we are a covenant people and act like it. It really bothers me that we have to be constantly reminded of things that should be second nature.

To the correspondent thinking of buying a suit, that is not necessary either; however, be clean, neat, and wear a pressed white shirt and tie. Also remember that your inward preparation is more important, but never let your outward appearance take away from that preparation and always remember that when you come for Sacrament meeting, you are in fact coming before the Lord to renew your covenants with Him.

Page 5 Properly Dress Brothers Sister

No, our clothing doesn't have to be the finest quality or the most expensive, but the best that we have. And it should be clean, pressed, mended well if necessary, and of course modest. Since I moved into my new ward, there are so many women who dress so casually and immodestly! Denim skirts and t-shirts, which is just like jeans, in my opinion. One Sunday, I saw a woman with a t-shirt that had a big Elmo face on it! What was she thinking? Not long ago, another woman was speaking in Sacrament meeting, and her blouse was so form-fitting you could actually see the lace pattern and other marks on her undergarments. Yikes! I just don't understand why members believe they are justified wearing what they do to church.

I saw a billboard recently, advertising for another church. It shows a pair of raggedy jeans, holes in the knees, etc., with "Church Clothes" in big letters next to it.

It's just disrespectful, and I don't think these people understand that.

IMO
Roz

Properly Dress Brothers Sister

ELDER CHRISTOFFERSON SPEAKS OF APPRECIATING HOLY THINGS
See https://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/53429

PROVO, Utah - In his address at the Church Educational System fireside
Sunday night, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the Presidency
of the Seventy, spoke of the need for appreciating sacred and holy things.
"I hope you will think, feel, dress, and act in ways that show reverence and
respect for sacred things, sacred places and occasions," he said. An audio
stream of this broadcast is available at lds.org:
Ref. https://www.lds.org/broadcast/ces/0,7341,395,00.html

Sister and Brothers Dress Properly

We should be areful not to "look beyond the mark" of Elder Holland's words...

"... wherever possible a white shirt be worn by
the deacons, teachers, and priests who handle the sacrament...
...a white shirt contributes to the sacredness of the holy
sacrament."

The subject of his counsel is administration of the sacrament. The sacrament is certainly one of the holy ordinances that he describes. Church attendance is not. What Elder Holland paints with a fine brush should not be applied with a roller.

President McKay gave similar counsel (again, pertaining to sacramental duties) when he said,""I am not going to say much about the dress. We are not a people who look to formality, certainly we do not believe in phylacteries, in uniforms, on sacred occasions, but I do think that the Lord will be pleased with a bishopric if they will instruct the young men who are invited to administer the sacrament to dress properly. He will not be displeased if they come with a white shirt instead of a colored one, and we are not so poor that we cannot afford clean, white shirts for the boys who administer the sacrament. If they do not have them, at least they will come with clean hands, and especially with a pure heart." (Conference Report, October 1956, p.89)

President Joseph Fielding Smith cautioned about going too far in strictly regimenting the dress and ordinances. "[Speaking about additional aspects added to sacred ordinances] These changes and innovations are innocently adopted, but in course of time there is the danger that they will become fixed customs and considered as necessary to the welfare of the Church. For example, let us consider the ordinance of the Sacrament. It became the custom in many wards throughout the church to have the young men who passed the Sacrament all dressed alike with dark coats, white shirts and uniform ties. This could in time lead to the established custom of dressing them in uniform, such as we see done in some sectarian and other churches. Then again as they passed the Sacrament they had to stand with their left hand plastered on their backs in a most awkward manner. The priests or elders who administered these holy emblems had to stand in a certain way as the one officiating in the prayer knelt at the table. In some instances the Bishop stood in the pulpit with raised hands in an attitude of benediction. Other customs among the quorums and in the services of the wards were introduced. Members of the Church were instructed that they must not touch the trays containing the bread and the water with their left hand, but must take it in their right hand after partaking as their neighbor held the tray in his or her right hand. So we see that we, if we are not careful, will find ourselves traveling the road that brought the Church of Jesus Christ in the first centuries into disrepute and paved the way for the apostasy." (Church History and Modern Revelation, Vol 1, p.103)

During my mission to Portugal, we had to offer gentle correction to a group of Aaronic Priesthood who gravitated toward a different extreme. They had begun to administer the sacrament wearing all white.

gofish

Sister Brothers Dress Properly - Page 5

More statements about how we should dress in Church....

It is an affront to God to come into His house, especially on His holy day, not groomed and dressed in the most careful and modest manner that our circumstances permit. Where a poor member from the hills of Peru must ford a river to get to church, the Lord surely will not be offended by the stain of muddy water on his white shirt.

"But how can God not be pained at the sight of one who, with all the clothes he needs and more and with easy access to the chapel, nevertheless appears in church in rumpled cargo pants and a T-shirt? Ironically, it has been my experience as I travel around the world that members of the Church with the least means somehow find a way to arrive at Sabbath meetings neatly dressed in clean, nice clothes, the best they have, while those who have more than enough are the ones who may appear in casual, even slovenly clothing.

Some say dress and hair don't matter-it's what's inside that counts. I believe that truly it is what's inside a person that counts, but that's what worries me. Casual dress at holy places and events is a message about what is inside a person. It may be pride or rebellion or something else, but at a minimum it says, "I don't get it. I don't understand the difference between the sacred and the profane." In that condition they are easily drawn away from the Lord. They do not appreciate the value of what they have. I worry about them. Unless they can gain some understanding and capture some feeling for sacred things, they are at risk of eventually losing all that matters most. You are Saints of the great latter-day dispensation-look the part."

https://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,538-1-2874-1,00.html

Sister Brothers Dress Properly Mormon Doctrine Studies - Page 5

The level of appropriateness of one's attire is a reflection of his or her love of the Lord. Especially on Sunday, but not excluding other days of the week, we should not wear anything that we would be embarrassed to wear if the Savior met us on the street. Would I be comfortable meeting the Savior in rags when I have access to better clothes for Him? No. Would I be comfortable in a terribly expensive, latest-fashion suit and a $200 tie? No. Would I be comfortable in a Mickey Mouse tie? No. I try to dress modestly (cost-wise and skin-wise), and as nicely as I should. Therefore, I am always comfortable with what I am wearing in any given situation.